Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste

I am a huge fan of this book and the lifestyle it promotes - it really has changed the way I view and approach trash, shopping, and the "stuff" in my life in general. I was always aware of being "environmentally friendly" but didn't really know how to focus that interest and energy and thought I was doing enough by recycling and buying "green" products. But there's really much more than that, that you can change immediately to have a much greater positive impact on the environment. And it will have trickle down effects on your wellbeing, health, and finances! I think her message is really effective on the following points: 1) shopping is voting. your dollars going to an unsustainable process are part of the problem 2) the biggest impact you can have is by eliminating all disposables. Immediately! You won't even miss them. 3) you taking your glass container to the deli counter will help make it easier for the next person who tries it, or will inspire someone who sees you do this. Just by living the lifestyle you have the power to enact change around you. 4) there really is an alternative to everything. Silk floss, bringing your own container to the restaurant for leftovers, active discards and refusing to allow junk mail into your home, etc. So many aha! moments where a blindingly simple solution or alternative to a pesky reoccurring trash item, one you might not have ever even thought twice about, exists. I think all the people who say Bea isn't doing "enough" are crazy! She has single handedly changed her entire lifestyle and is now spreading the word to thousands of people through her excellent book and is truly starting a Zero Waste movement. I think it is a "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" kind of thing. No one is perfect, but Bea is pretty darn close! This book is full of approachable tactics to reduce waste in all areas of your life. Think of what positive change we could enact if everyone on the planet tried just one or two!

I am still plowing through this book, but so far, I’ve been able to stop a lot of junk mail from arriving at my house, spread the news to everyone interested, and am more mindful of what I bring into the house. Since I order online 90% of the time, the packaging is inevitable, but I repurpose the boxes, polyvinyl envelopes, and the packing material (tinder for fire starting skills practice, and for the air bags and paper stuffing, I give those to a family friend who uses them for purse and bag display – she makes purses and bags). I am very mindful of freebies and avoid those and carry-out items; it’s rare I go out to eat, but when I do, I don’t use the straw and I let the server know when to stop bringing water and coffee or whatever I happen to be drinking, so as not to be wasteful. I’m still impressed with the author’s habit of accumulating only ONE QUART of garbage ANNUALLY and am working towards that goal. Many of my disposable hygiene products have been replaced with items by Sckoon and I’ve invested in a high quality epilator to avoid the disposable razors and accompanying shaving creams etc. When I sift through the subjective material in the book, I find some gold nuggets that I can use to do my part to respect this earth. Following the author’s suggestions also is in line with my de-cluttering journey that I’ve taken on full force since buying the Do Less book (see inserted link). I have the Kindle version of this Zero Waste book and enjoy it, but I find that with the hardcopy in my hands, I work better accomplishing tasks, so I’ll be buying the hardcopy version soon. Kindle books are immediate and that’s what I needed to start on the Zero Waste experiment that has also become my obsession. Do Less: A Minimalist Guide to a Simplified, Organized, and Happy Life

I must admit, I bought this book having never read the blog, or hearing a word about the author. My husband randomly asked me the other day how we have so much trash, and Amazon recommended the book to me based on browsing history, which I took as a sign and ordered it. It is a very informative book, and as quick a read as you choose for it to be. The sections are laid out very well so you can pick and choose what you'd like to read. I read all of the book except for the section on children which I skimmed quickly. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how many things mentioned in the book we already do, considering the comment on our trash situation. I know that our biggest waste is paper towels and this was very lightly addressed, but she did give some options for homemade reusable options which I fully intend to look into. I loved how open she was on their previous lifestyle and made it abundantly clear that the past doesn't matter, you shouldn't dwell on that, just do anything you can do to reduce your carbon footprint for the future which I appreciated. The author is very humble and open about their both good and bad experiences being "green." Not living in California or another super progressive city does have its limitations on ability to do some of the options mentioned. For example, I regularly purchase bulk items whenever possible, but in our area the only bulk items offered are nuts/flours/snacks/grains. Not soap, shampoo, or cooking oils or coffee. I completely agree with the philosophy that recycling should not be our best option. The most helpful part of the book is the resources information, compiled for ease of access. The resources included options for you to mail back items that are otherwise trash in most counties, websites and phone numbers to remove you from junk mailing lists, how to find bulk shopping in your area or even a website to find milk packaged in glass bottles in you area. The resources list is perhaps the most helpful to me in that it is one area, while it is all info you could find online, she did the legwork for you, so you have no excuse to not try to make a change. I think this is a great book for anyone looking to make their routine a little more environmentally friendly. There is an in depth section on different types of composting options which would help anyone get started to figure out the best set up for them. The author makes it clear that she doesn't expect anyone to do more than they are comfortable with or that seriously interferes with life, which is nice. She also makes it clear that doing what she has done, which is further than most people will probably take the concept, is hard. I highly recommend the book for a casual read, I think I will send it to my mom, who could definitely use a little green in her routine. The only thing worth mentioning, and why I rated it four stars rather than five, is that aside from the resources, most of this is not new information to me, so for many people who would be looking at this book I would assume it is mostly a rehash of things we already know. Compost what you can, rid your home of chemicals, stop throwing away plastic, stop wasting your money on things you will throw away in a month or two because they are junk, stop buying things from companies you don't believe in, etc. With that being said, I am going to go online now look into some of the resources the author mentioned that I didn't know about.

Daughter: I am 11 and I read this book because it was a homeschool assignment in my Measurement unit. My mom saw it and wanted to see how much trash we make in two weeks and so we started weighing our trash. I really enjoyed this book. Bea Johnson sounded like she was having a lot of fun. Her tips were useful and I think I might simplify my room (which is mostly simplified already). My family already does a lot of this stuff but we could do more. I recommend this book if you want to change your lifestyle, or are worried about your impact on earth. Mother: Although this book is written for an adult audience, it really hit home with my middle-schooler. My daughter kept leaping out of dark corners and reading long passages of this book to me (including the meal planning and recipe section)! She found it extremely compelling. It's inspiring, not preachy, and super-practical. Our whole family has been interested in the ideas in Zero Waste Home. I would definitely recommend it as a homeschooling mom. It added a whole new dimension to our Measurement unit, and would be a great addition to Marietta McCarty's Philosophy book as well (Little Big Minds: Sharing Philosophy with Kids; I suggest using this book with the topics of Justice or Responsibility or Nature). If you are interested in living more thoughtfully, this book is for you. It gets 5 stars from both of us hands-down.

I think this is a brilliant book! I never feel like Bea is preaching or suggesting that everyone follow her lifestyle to the letter, but that she is just sharing all the techniques she has discovered over many years of exploration. How you implement her ideas is up to you. After listening to the audiobook of "The Story of Stuff" I was looking for practical ideas to cut back on my disposables, and Zero Waste Home is full of ideas and recipes. As a visual artist, I appreciate Bea's focus on creativity as well. Thanks to some articles on her blog I was inspired to give away all the supplies I haven't used in years, and it has indeed freed me up and supercharged my creative spirit. I look forward to experimenting with her watercolor recipes and brainstorming other ways to save on waste! No artist wants to feel like they are just creating more "stuff" to be shuffled around this already full world. And for people who feel embarrassed to bring a pillowcase (which is just a large bag) to the store or compost their tampons, perhaps you could take a second and think about other cultures besides America where people do things differently and are totally fine and healthy? Many countries use cloth bags to carry food. Bodily fluids are natural and we don't have to be scared of them.

The thing that drew me to this book was a feature in the April Martha Stewart. It was the pictures of Ms. Johnson's house that really struck me. It looks just like I want my house to look, clean and uncluttered. Ms. Johnson's motivation is imminently environmental, but mine is more just wanting a simpler, less wasteful, less self-indulgent life-style (so is hers, but she is largely motivated by the environment). I point out our different motivations because it does not matter what your motivations are to find this book helpful. This book is an extremely practical, easy-to-use guide to getting rid of the junk in your house and lifestyle. My bathroom is already transformed and I am so happy. I hung a sign on my door that I can see as I go out of the house that reads: "THINK before you bring anything into this house. Do you already have something you can use instead?" One can have the misapprehension that to live waste free is to become a hoarder - not so! It has a lot to do with not bringing unnecessary things into the house in the first place. I do not see myself going as far with it as Ms. Johnson - but what her book has done for me already was worth the read. You can use this book at your own discretion. As she says in the book, if you use it to dabble or to go whole hog with being waste free, you can still find help in this book. I only had a problem with some advice given on the first two pages of the "Kids" chapter, but I am not even going to tell you what the problem was because I would buy the book anyway and it is a world-view difference that doesn't have anything to do with the practicality and usefulness of the book. If everyone could live like this book advocates - what a clean, healthy place the world would be.

This is a very inspiring book. When you hear "sustainability" you may picture a stereotypical hippie and be turned off. Bea is here to show you that sustainability and zero waste can be sexy and cool. She definitely takes it to an extreme that can be hard for most people to achieve. For me, I try to take what I can from this book and adapt it to my lifestyle. I try to always think of her advice when I shop and I'm finding that it's really helping me. I'm saving money, I'm recycling more, I'm saying no to unnecessary things and I'm cleaning out the clutter and donating unused things. It feels refreshing and clears your mind to focus on the good things in life. Having a toddler, I'm thrilled to pass on some of these ideologies to her as she grows up by watching me as an example. The book itself is well written, simple and beautiful. She really covers a lot and goes into detail with recipes. I love her personal story too. Knowing that she went from an extremely high-maintenance "Beverly Hill Housewife" type lady to one with strict zero waste discipline is incredible. She does it with so much grace and style. She shows that you can let go of so much and end up having so much more. I only wish I'd known of this long ago!

This book was recommended by a friend, but I found it to be a little disappointing. I have been making efforts at reducing waste and clutter in my home for years, with some limited success in certain areas (I've eliminated most plastics, reduced school lunch waste dramatically, single-use items, etc. but continue to battle junk mail, grocery packaging, etc.) I found most of the ideas fell into what I'd consider "basic" or "advanced", with not a lot of "in-between" improvement-related advice. If you're just starting out and this whole idea is pretty new, and you live in an urban area, there are a lot of good ideas in here for getting started. And then there are some things in here that are going to seem overwhelming. If you have been at this for awhile and you're looking for more motivation or incremental improvement strategies that do not involve becoming a zero-waste consultant or buying shampoo in bulk, this is not going to be a particularly helpful book. The other missing piece of this book that I found disappointing is that it is so focused on zero-waste, that there's no real sense of the larger picture, which is reducing your environmental footprint. The point of reducing waste is to fit into a larger picture of reducing your household's environmental impact. So how do you choose where to start and how hard to fight in any given area? Does reducing grocery waste have more impact than constantly calling people to beg them not to send me mail? If I compost religiously, and have my own vegetable garden, how does that rate compared to buying my shampoo in bulk and shaving with a straight razor? If there are only so many fronts I can fight at one time, how do I prioritize what to do first, and how important to make it? Otherwise, so many different battles are exhausting.